During its Annual Conference in Madrid the European Real Estate Association (EPRA), representing the European public real estate sector, granted The British Land Company, the EPRA Award. It is the second time in EPRAââ¬â¢s history an award has been given to the real estate association with the Best Annual Report.
According to the jury, under chairmanship of Deloitte & Touche, the strong features of the British Land annual report are its disclosure of latent capital gains taxes ââ¬" it is the only one that discloses tax rate ââ¬" and its disclosure of valuation of development assets. Land Securities was runner up, IVG Holding AG ââ¬" last yearââ¬â¢s winner ââ¬" and Hammerson both won third price.
In total 62 European real estate associations entered their annual reports to have them criticized and commented on. On the basis of various criteria covered in the EPRA Best Practices Recommendations - the way of accounting and valuation issues of real estate and the extent of disclosure of additional information - the Accountant and Consultancy Firm Deloitte & Touche carried out the preliminary examination. From this five nominees were selected and presented to the ââ¬ËBest Annual Report Juryââ¬â¢ of the EPRA for the final judgement. Chairman of this 7-headed European Jury is Roger Dassen, National Function Leader Accountancy at Deloitte & Touche. The Jury finally decided British Land was the real estate association with the best annual report.
Last year EPRA stated expressly that they will continue the competition for the best annual report. The Juryââ¬â¢s findings and recommendations were incorporated in the revised Best Practices Policy Recommendations as published January 2003. Furthermore, more emphasis -and thus a higher score- was laid on specific issues regarding valuation and the disclosure of all relevant factors. The revision constitutes an even better basis for the Jury to establish the extent to which an annual report fulfils the objectives of EPRA.
The Award, also made available by Pension Fund and Institutional Investor PGGM, has as its primary goal to assist in pushing the industry forward by making the financial statements of public real estate companies in Europe clearer, more transparent and comparable across Europe. The Award will also contribute to facilitating the insight in and comparison of European public real estate associations for interested investors throughout Europe and beyond.
Source: Deloitte & Touce
